1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to mold cores and methods for fabricating mold cores, and particularly, to a mold core having a plurality of molding surfaces and a method for fabricating such mold core.
2. Description of Related Art
A typical method for fabricating a mold core includes the following steps: forming a light-curable material layer, such as polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), on a substrate; press-molding the light-curable material layer using a metallic stamper; exposing the light-curable material layer to light and thereby solidifying the light-cured material layer to form a pattern; and removing the metallic stamper to obtain the mold core with a plurality of molding surfaces. Another typical method for fabricating the mold core involves using an ultra-precision machine to cut or grind the light-cured material layer to obtain the mold core with a plurality of molding surfaces.
With the above-described methods, when the light-cured material layer is formed on a surface of the substrate, because of an “edge bead” effect, it is difficult to form the layer with an even thickness. That is, a thickness of the edge of the layer is greater than that of the middle of the layer. Furthermore, in the press-molding process, the light-curable material layer typically has to contact and bear the weight of the entire stamper. Because the mechanical strength of the light-cured material layer is low, the plurality of molding surfaces are liable to be easily damaged.
Therefore, what is needed is a mold core with high mechanical strength and high precision, and a method for fabricating such mold core.